Winchester. Comest thou with deep premeditated lines,
With written pamphlets studiously devised,
Humphrey of Gloucester? If thou canst accuse,
Or aught intend'st to lay unto my charge,
Do it without invention, suddenly;
1225As I with sudden and extemporal speech
Purpose to answer what thou canst object.

Duke of Gloucester. Presumptuous priest! this place commands my patience,
Or thou shouldst find thou hast dishonour'd me.
Think not, although in writing I preferr'd
1230The manner of thy vile outrageous crimes,
That therefore I have forged, or am not able
Verbatim to rehearse the method of my pen:
No, prelate; such is thy audacious wickedness,
Thy lewd, pestiferous and dissentious pranks,
1235As very infants prattle of thy pride.
Thou art a most pernicious usurer,
Forward by nature, enemy to peace;
Lascivious, wanton, more than well beseems
A man of thy profession and degree;
1240And for thy treachery, what's more manifest?
In that thou laid'st a trap to take my life,
As well at London bridge as at the Tower.
Beside, I fear me, if thy thoughts were sifted,
The king, thy sovereign, is not quite exempt
1245From envious malice of thy swelling heart.

Winchester. Gloucester, I do defy thee. Lords, vouchsafe
To give me hearing what I shall reply.
If I were covetous, ambitious or perverse,
As he will have me, how am I so poor?
1250Or how haps it I seek not to advance
Or raise myself, but keep my wonted calling?
And for dissension, who preferreth peace
More than I do?—except I be provoked.
No, my good lords, it is not that offends;
1255It is not that that hath incensed the duke:
It is, because no one should sway but he;
No one but he should be about the king;
And that engenders thunder in his breast
And makes him roar these accusations forth.
1260But he shall know I am as good—

Earl of Warwick. State holy or unhallow'd, what of that?
Is not his grace protector to the king?

Richard Plantagenet (Duke of Gloucester). [Aside] Plantagenet, I see, must hold his tongue,
1285Lest it be said 'Speak, sirrah, when you should;
Must your bold verdict enter talk with lords?'
Else would I have a fling at Winchester.

Henry VI. Uncles of Gloucester and of Winchester,
The special watchmen of our English weal,
1290I would prevail, if prayers might prevail,
To join your hearts in love and amity.
O, what a scandal is it to our crown,
That two such noble peers as ye should jar!
Believe me, lords, my tender years can tell
1295Civil dissension is a viperous worm
That gnaws the bowels of the commonwealth.
[A noise within, 'Down with the tawny-coats!']What tumult's this?

Earl of Warwick. An uproar, I dare warrant,
1300Begun through malice of the bishop's men.

[A noise again, 'Stones! stones!' Enter Mayor]

Lord Mayor of London. O, my good lords, and virtuous Henry,
Pity the city of London, pity us!
The bishop and the Duke of Gloucester's men,
1305Forbidden late to carry any weapon,
Have fill'd their pockets full of pebble stones
And banding themselves in contrary parts
Do pelt so fast at one another's pate
That many have their giddy brains knock'd out:
1310Our windows are broke down in every street
And we for fear compell'd to shut our shops.

Duke of Gloucester. You of my household, leave this peevish broil
And set this unaccustom'd fight aside.

Third Serving-Man. My lord, we know your grace to be a man
Just and upright; and, for your royal birth,
Inferior to none but to his majesty:
1325And ere that we will suffer such a prince,
So kind a father of the commonweal,
To be disgraced by an inkhorn mate,
We and our wives and children all will fight
And have our bodies slaughtered by thy foes.
1330

First Serving-Man. Ay, and the very parings of our nails
Shall pitch a field when we are dead.

[Begin again]

Duke of Gloucester. Stay, stay, I say!
And if you love me, as you say you do,
1335Let me persuade you to forbear awhile.

Henry VI. O, how this discord doth afflict my soul!
Can you, my Lord of Winchester, behold
My sighs and tears and will not once relent?
Who should be pitiful, if you be not?
1340Or who should study to prefer a peace.
If holy churchmen take delight in broils?

Earl of Warwick. Yield, my lord protector; yield, Winchester;
Except you mean with obstinate repulse
To slay your sovereign and destroy the realm.
1345You see what mischief and what murder too
Hath been enacted through your enmity;
Then be at peace except ye thirst for blood.

Henry VI. Fie, uncle Beaufort! I have heard you preach
That malice was a great and grievous sin;
And will not you maintain the thing you teach,
1360But prove a chief offender in the same?

Earl of Warwick. Sweet king! the bishop hath a kindly gird.
For shame, my lord of Winchester, relent!
What, shall a child instruct you what to do?

Winchester. Well, Duke of Gloucester, I will yield to thee;
1365Love for thy love and hand for hand I give.

Duke of Gloucester. [Aside] Ay, but, I fear me, with a hollow heart.—
See here, my friends and loving countrymen,
This token serveth for a flag of truce
Betwixt ourselves and all our followers:
1370So help me God, as I dissemble not!

Earl of Warwick. Accept this scroll, most gracious sovereign,
Which in the right of Richard Plantagenet
We do exhibit to your majesty.

Duke of Gloucester. Well urged, my Lord of Warwick: or sweet prince,
And if your grace mark every circumstance,
1385You have great reason to do Richard right;
Especially for those occasions
At Eltham Place I told your majesty.

Henry VI. And those occasions, uncle, were of force:
Therefore, my loving lords, our pleasure is
1390That Richard be restored to his blood.

Earl of Warwick. Let Richard be restored to his blood;
So shall his father's wrongs be recompensed.

Henry VI. Stoop then and set your knee against my foot;
And, in reguerdon of that duty done,
I gird thee with the valiant sword of York:
Rise Richard, like a true Plantagenet,
1405And rise created princely Duke of York.

Duke of Gloucester. Now will it best avail your majesty
To cross the seas and to be crown'd in France:
The presence of a king engenders love
1415Amongst his subjects and his loyal friends,
As it disanimates his enemies.

Henry VI. When Gloucester says the word, King Henry goes;
For friendly counsel cuts off many foes.

Duke of Exeter. Ay, we may march in England or in France,
Not seeing what is likely to ensue.
This late dissension grown betwixt the peers
Burns under feigned ashes of forged love
1425And will at last break out into a flame:
As fester'd members rot but by degree,
Till bones and flesh and sinews fall away,
So will this base and envious discord breed.
And now I fear that fatal prophecy
1430Which in the time of Henry named the Fifth
Was in the mouth of every sucking babe;
That Henry born at Monmouth should win all
And Henry born at Windsor lose all:
Which is so plain that Exeter doth wish
1435His days may finish ere that hapless time.